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Michelle O'Neill, vice president of Sinn Féin, will have to defend her title during the congress of her party. Here in front of the British Parliament, Westminster, February 13, 2019. REUTERS / Hannah McKay

In Derry, Northern Ireland, the annual Sinn Féin Congress, the nationalist party in the North and the Republic of Ireland, opens on Friday, November 15, the main claim of which is the unification of the island. . Representatives from Palestine, Cuba, South Africa are expected at this Congress, dominated this year by Northern politics.

With our correspondent in Dublin, Emeline Wine

The Congress opens in the middle of the electoral campaign for the British legislatives whereas the Sinn Féin was illustrated by bad results during the last local and European elections, where the party lost half of its elected officials. It is therefore a question of how to regain the confidence of voters.

In the middle of the Brexit impasse, Sinn Féin also hopes to garner support for a referendum on the reunification of Ireland, which he has been calling for since the end of the Northern Ireland conflict. Since the vote to leave the EU, and negotiations on the Irish border, this reunification seems less and less unlikely in the United Kingdom.

And then, this convention will have something new: the vice-president of the party, Michelle O'Neill, will have to defend its title, by the ballot box. Former Northern Ireland Minister John O'Dowd announced in the summer that he would run for office. Atypical for a party, which although republican, is accustomed to natural successions .

► See also: Brexit: Dublin plans 1.2 billion to deal with a "no deal"